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 | Paul BleyChanging HandsLabel: Justin Time | Jazz | October 1, 1991Format UPC Order # Unit Price |
TracksNo Title Duration Excerpts 04 Longer 00:09:29 05 Summertime 00:06:58 06 U-Nighted 00:06:58 07 Pleasing You 00:02:50 Liner NotesThe summer of 1992 will find Paul Bley presented in a series of concerts, part of the extended Montreal International Jazz Festivals contribution to Montreals 350th birthday celebrations. Later that year Paul himself will be celebrating his 60th he was born in Montreal on November 10, 1932.We first met while we were both still in our teens. Paul was 19, I was 16. He was already in New York attending the Juilliard School of Music and I was an executive member of the Emanon Jazz Society and attending high school in Montreal's west end. The following year Paul, along with Keith White, Neil Michaud, Billy Graham and a number of other musicians, formed the [Montreal] Jazz Workshop, a musician's organization that worked hand in glove with Emanon in presenting as much jazz as possible. By early 1953 there was a "Jazz Workshop' TV show on the CBC and on February 5,1953, the show spotlighted not only Bley and Michaud but also a number of musicians Paul had jammed with in New York, namely Ted Paskert, Dick Garcia, Brew Moore and "Bird," Charlie Parker. By year's end, the Workshop had presented the likes of Sam Most, Herbie Spanier, Kai Winding, Steep Wade, Jackie McLean, Valdo Williams, Joe Gordon, Allen Eager, Arthur Taylor and Sonny Rollins. Paul's had a long and prolific recording career which began with a Montreal session for the "Silver" label than produced a mambo called "Like The Moon Above", a Bley original. His U.S. recording career began with a "lost session done in 1952 for the Stinson label with Oscar Pettiford and Kenny Clarke. That session would seem to have disappeared, even Paul's memory has become vague on this subject - the one title I remember being on the acetate that Paul played me back then was "Fats" Waller's "Black and Blue". The following year, Bley recorded with Charles Mingus and Art Blakey and the results, which include a timeless "I Can't Get Started' are still available on Fantasy's OJC label. Over the years Bley's worked with a variety of leaders including Chet Baker, Jimmy Giuffre, Don Ellis, Sonny Rollins and George Russell. The latter's "Jazz In The Space Age" session featuring piano duets by Paul and Bill Evans is must listening - an ear opener. Peacock, Eddie Gomez, Kent Carter, Billy Higgins, Lennie McBrowne, Barry Altschul, Paul Motian, Bobby Hutcherson, Dave Pike, John Gilmore and, in 1950, the then unknown Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman. Later Paul was to be the only pianist invited to sit in with Ornette's quartet during its historic East Coast debut at the Five Spot in New York City. In the 1960's noted jazz critic Nat Hentoff was asked which musician he thought the most influential. He answered [to no one's surprise] "Duke Ellington" - the surprise came when he added, "he's not a major influence yet, but pay attention to Paul Bley." Hentoff was right on and Bley's influence today can be heard in the playing of many musicians including Keith Jarrett, Don Friedman, Fred Hersch and Geri Allen. Early in 1991, Paul was "home" to record his third and fourth session for Justin Time. In 1986 he did "Night Bathers" with Bob Mover: the following year it was his own "Solo" session and this year's piano duets with Juno award winner Jon Ballantyne are forthcoming. The cream of Paul's solo items from February 25 and 26 of this year, again superbly recorded by Ian Terry, are contained here in "Changing Hands", yet another milestone in a recording career that spans almost 40 years ENJOY! Len Dobbin, Montreal, July 1991 Host JAZZ 96 [CJFM96] |
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